Huawei Nova 8 & Nova 8 Pro launched with Kirin 985 chipset

There is a unique-looking oval-shaped Quad camera module

Release Date
December 23, 2020
Huawei Nova 8 Series Starting Price
3,299 Yuan
Pre-Book

More than a month after the launch of the Nova 8 SE, Huawei Nova 8 & Nova 8 Pro launched today in the Chinese market. Unlike the Nova 8 SE that is a mid-range device, the Nova 8 series comes with high-end specs such as high-refresh-rate panels, Kirin 985 chipset, 66W Fast Charging etc. The Huawei Nova 7 & Nova 7 Pro launched in April this year with the Kirin 985 SOC so it is surprising that the successors are getting the same chipset. Anyways, the Nova 8 starts at 3,299 Yuan (~$505) while the Nova 8 Pro at 3,999 Yuan (~$612).

HUAWEI NOVA 8 – DESIGN & SPECIFICATIONS 

Speaking of the design, the main highlight of the Nova 8 is its Oval-shaped camera module on the rear which is perhaps the best way to identify that it is the Nova 8. The Oval shaped camera module has a Quad camera setup in it along with the LED flash. There is a premium glass back & a curved display with a centred hole-punch cutout.

On the front, Huawei Nova 8 has a 6.57-inch OLED panel with Full-HD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. There is a 240Hz touch response rate as well. The hole-punch cutout has a 32 Megapixel selfie camera in it that has f/2.0 aperture. Under the hood, there is the Kirin 985 chipset that comes with a 5G modem so the Nova 8 supports 5G. This SOC features an octa-core CPU, an NPU and the Mali-G77 GPU. There is 8GB RAM paired with 128GB or 256GB internal storage.

The Quad camera setup on the rear includes a primary 64-megapixel camera with f/1.9 aperture & it is paired with an 8 Megapixel ultrawide camera and two 2 Megapixel sensors. We don’t think there is any need of explaining what those two 2 megapixel sensors do, right?

Finally, the phone has a 3,800mAh battery underneath and supports 66W Fast Charging via the USB Type-C port. There is no support for Wireless Charging. EMUI 11.0 based on Android 10 runs out of the box with no Google services.

HUAWEI NOVA 8 PRO – DESIGN & SPECIFICATIONS

While the design of Nova 8 Pro is the same from the rear as that of Nova 8, there is a slight difference in terms of the front design. Unlike the Nova 8 that has a single hole-punch cutout placed in the middle, the Nova 8 Pro has a dual selfie camera setup, hence a pill-shaped cutout placed on the top left corner of the screen. The display is curved on both sides.

There is the same Kirin 985 SOC so the Pro version doesn’t get a more powerful chipset. In fact, the storage options are the same as well i.e., 8GB RAM and 128/256GB storage. There is a 4,000mAh battery so the battery is slightly larger than in case of the Nova 8. The charging speed remains the same i.e., 66W.

Talking about that dual camera setup on the front, there is the same 32 Megapixel primary camera as on the Nova 8 but the Nova 8 Pro gets an additional 16 Megapixel camera to take ultrawide shots. On the rear, there is the same camera setup i.e., 64MP+ 8MP + 2MP + 2MP. There is no mention of OIS on the specifications page so we don’t think there is OIS for the Pro version. Also, while the 64MP camera on the Nova 8 has f/1.9 aperture, the one on the Nova 8 Pro has f/1.8 aperture.

Finally, there is a bigger 6.72-inch OLED panel with a resolution of 2676 x 1236 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. The touch-sampling-rate is 300Hz. EMUI 11 based on Android 10 runs out of the box.

HUAWEI NOVA 8 & NOVA 8 PRO – PRICING & AVAILABILITY

The color options remain the same for both the smartphones so the only difference is in the pricing. Here is the pricing for the Nova 8 in China –

  • 8GB + 128GB – 3,299 Yuan (~$505)
  • 8GB + 256GB – 3,699 Yuan (~$565)

And here is the pricing for the Nova 8 Pro –

  • 8GB + 128GB – 3,999 Yuan (~$612)
  • 8GB + 256GB – 4,399 Yuan (~$673)

The bookings have begun in the Chinese market and the phones will go on sale on the 7th of January.